The Ketchum keystone. [volume] (Ketchum, Idaho) 1885-1899, 1887-06-11
MExIco's LOST MINES.
A Story Of the Discovery BY Recent
ExplorerA

A special dispatch from the City
of Mexico to the St. Louis Globe
Democrat says: Lieut.. H. o. Flip
per, late of the United States army,
whose expedition through Sonora
has resulted in important discover
les, is in the city. He confirms in
full the story of the finding of the
Guyaopa and Tayopa, two of the
historical lost mines; but besides
this he brings maps and informa-
ton of greatest interest and value
to both Americans and Mexicans.
Lieut.. Flipper's narrative of what
he has seen in the wilds of Sonora
is marvelously entertaining. On
the United States military maps, of
comparatively recent date, dis
trict embracing Northern Sonora
and Southern New Mexico and Ar
izona is designated as TERRA Dis
cerrecida unknown land). This
is still particularly true of Sonora,
about which country there is a
great interest in the United States.
Speaking generally of what the ex-
pedition found, Lieut.. Flipper says /:
GAS to the grazing and agricul-
tural possibilities of the land we
have surveyed, l say nothing. AS
to mining, l consider the Sonora
the richest region in the republic
Of Mexico, or on the continent. 1t
is the least developed, and is prac-
tically virgin soil. We have seen
gold, silver, copper, coal, plumbago,
marble and talc-talc, or soapstone.
The traditions of mines Of fabulous
richness find abundant confirnla-
ton. In the ruined towns are heaps
of Stag, old furnaces, gold washes
and troughs cut of solid stone or
made of cut stone masonry, which
we saw all over Eastern Sonora.
On the very tops of high mountains,
among the great pine and fir trees,
we found innumerable peach, apple,
fig and other fruit trees, especially
pomegranites. These and the ruins
of old dams, sluices, or acequias, in
the heart of the mountains, in
small canyons, are unmistakable
evidences of the fact of this country
having been occupied by the Span
iards. The ruins of old churches,
east Of Macon Chica, for example,
show that these people were not
mere prospectors, but that they
founded towns near the mines they
worked, and worked on a large
SCALE
THE SEVEN LOST MINES.
To a request for some informa-
ton about the seven lost mines
mentioned by Humboldt and other
early travellers, Lieut.. Flipper said :
According to tradition and re-
cords of those times now existing
in the churches of Chihuahua and
Sonora, seven immensely rich mines
were abandoned and never afterward
worked, because of the Indians.
The names of these mines are
known, but can recall none, ex.
cept two, the Guayopa and Tayopa
which we found. At one of the
mines, as tradition goes, all the
PEOPLE were killed by the Indians
and everything destroyed that the
Indians could destroy. There was,
however, a store room in which the
silver bars we're stored till trans
portation to Gusdalaja, the then
capital of New Spain, could be OBJ
tained. There was large amount
of silver in the room at the time
under strong lock and key, and
this the Indians, it is supposed
could not and did not destroy.
IL am telling you the story as il
is still firmly believed in Sonora
and Chihuahua. Many an expedi
ton has been organized to look fo1
this store of fabulous wealth, bu
no one has found it. 1t is said tha
three Mexicans, some three or fOu
years ago, did actually locate it
They described it as being bull
down in deep, narrow canyon
into which they could find no en-
trance except by sliding down o'
ropes fastened above. This the.
did. They claimed to have seel
through cracks in the roof. an i'm
mense number Of bars of silve
piled in the room, which was large
One of their number, attempting t
effect an entrance, fell from tn
roof, and was dashed to pieces o.
the rocks below. His companion
construed this as warning from
heaven to desist, and they did sc
They have never been able to fin
the house since. They claim tn
house is built in the canyon up hig
, above the bed of the mountain tol
rent that flows through. Thel
theory is that communication wit
, the storehouse is by secret pass
age extending back through tn
mountain some distance to the min
and reduction works. They foun
p - ,:,. of tho wOrka. but COul